Brazilian folklore galore! part 2

So, time for the second part!
I've included some more known figures this time around... But some here
are still pretty obscure as well.

Just as the previous part, these are sketches done in my notebook during
classes, so their designs are not that elaborate nor are the scans in very
high quality, apologies for that.

See the first part here: atmaflare.deviantart.com/art/B…

---1: Iara--------------------------------------------------------------------------
A mermaid from Brazilian folklore, originally a river goddess from Tupí mythology.
In one version of her story she was originally a brave warrior, and all her brothers
were deeply jealous of her abilities. One day, they murdered her and dumped her
corpse in the river. The gods took pity on her, and made her immortal, transforming
her lower torso into a fish's tail. She lives on river banks deep into the forest,
and spends all day combing her hair and singing in a impossibly beautiful voice.
Any male who hears her singing instantly falls madly in love and starts searching for her.
but what happens when he finds her though, depends on the story. Some say she eats
the poor victim on the spot, and others say they end up drowning in the river while
hypnotized. A happier version of the story says she cares for her victims and takes
them to live with her, but as every man is mortal and Iara isn't, she spends most of her
days in loneliness and sadness.
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---2: Caipora-----------------------------------------------------------------------
A forest spirit from a Brazilian folklore, a variation of the legend of the Curupira
itself, and just like him, once an ancient Tupi god of the animals. The Caipora
protects the wildlife from disrespectful hunters and poachers, making them lose their
way in the jungle and driving them mad. To avoid his wrath, one must befriend him using
gifts, hunt only the necessary, and bring a torch along, as he hates fire. He's
commonly described as a small Indian-like being riding a great peccary, but in some
versions he has backwards feet (just like the Curupira), a third eye or a black mane.
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---3: Boi-Bumbá---------------------------------------------------------------------
Also known as "Bumba meu boi" (literally "Strike my Bull"), it's the name of a
festival common in the Northern and Northeastern parts of Brazil, where people dance
while dressed in colorful costumes of humans and animals, narrating the story of
the death and resurrection of an ox, the main character of the dance. Long story short,
a pregnant slave woman wishes to eat a bull's tongue (a common dish in some parts
of Brazil for those not aware of), forcing her husband to kill the best ox in his
boss's farm to satiate her desire. He does it, making his patron very mad, and then tries to
lie about the whereabouts of the ox. He fails, and ends up revealing its corpse.
A shaman suddenly appears and uses his magic to resurrect the animal for everyone's
relief, ending the story with everyone dancing in happiness.
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---4: Minhocão ("Big Earthworm")----------------------------------------------------
A cryptid from the deeps of the jungle, reported all over south and central America.
It takes the form of a giant snake, or more commonly, a giant earthworm, with a
pig-like snout, two tentacles sticking out of its forehead, and in some legends,
a furry head and eyes that glow like green flames. It supposedly drains the blood
of the humans it finds, eats young kids who swim in the rivers and destroys houses
built along the shores. Many of the tales about the creature are not encounters with
the worm itself, but with the enourmous trenches it leaves on the jungle floor as it
crawls. Some cryptid hunters believe that something similiar to the creature could
very well be real, possibly being a undiscovered species of giant caecilians.
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---5: Boiúna------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Boiúna ("Black Snake"), also known as the "Mother of the waters", is a complex
figure of Amazonian folklore, taking the form of a giant anaconda, measuring up to
147 feet, living in the bottom of the rivers. It can be benign or malign depending
on the legend, of which there are many, all of them telling different characteristics
of the Boiúna. Some of them include: A legend that says that it can transform into a
beautiful woman and seduce men during full moon nights; One that says that it lives
underground sleeping, and if one day wakes up it will destroy everything; Another saying 
that if a woman is impregnated by a spirit, its child will turn into another Boiúna;
And one last legend (the one which this design is based of) says the serpent eats
whoever it finds swimming in the rivers, and has the power to disguise itself as a
boat to lure unaware fisherman for its next meal.
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---6: Cabeça-de-Cuia ("Gourd Head")-------------------------------------------------
A malign water creature who kidnaps women in the folklore of northeastern Brazil.
In life, he was a boy named Crispin, who lived alongside his old mother a miserable
life in the middle of the drylands. After returning irritated from a failed attempt of
fishing, his mother serves him for lunch a watery soup made from chicken bones, since
they had no meat left. The boy gets angry, and in a fit of rage, throws a bone in his
mother's head, killing her. In her last breath the mother curses her son for his
ingratitude, who runs scared for what he did, throws himself in the river and
disappears. The curse turned him into a monster with a large, bloated head, and the
only way to return to normal was for him to kill seven virgin girls named Mary.
Mary was for much time an extremely common name in Brazil, especially in that region,
so the legend it's probably just a cautionary tale to warn girls against going to
the river alone, or else they would be killed by the Cabeça-de-Cuia.
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---7: Pisadeira ("She-Stomper")-----------------------------------------------------
An old hag from Brazilian folklore, with eyes of fire, long fingernails and green
teeth. It walks on roofs at night, looking for people who go to sleep with their
bellies full after dinner. When she finds one, she enters the bedrooms and stomps
(or sits depending of the version) on the person's belly, paralyzing their body in
a semi-conscious state. It's widely accepted that this legend was created as an
explanation for the sleep paralysis phenomenon, and similar legends are found all
around the world.
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---8: Pirarucu----------------------------------------------------------------------
A fish in real life, one of the largest freshwater fishes in the world, having black
scales and a bloody-red tail. According to native legends, Pirarucu was once human,
son of the tribe's chief and also a powerful and brave warrior, but also evil,
arrogant and blasphemous. During one occasion when his tribe was visiting another
one on amicable terms, he took the opportunity and killed every woman and child in the
village on a murder spree for no reason. The gods were disgusted by this, and
tried to kill Pirarucu sending heavy rain and fire, but he managed to escape and
kept insulting the gods. The thunder fiend Xandoré them threw a lightning bolt at
him, hitting his heart and finally killing him. His corpse was dragged to the bottom
of the rivers, transforming into the dark fish.
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---9: Tau---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The personification of evil in Tupí mythology, created alongside his opposite,
Angatupyry, the spirit of good, by Tupã, god of light and thunder. According to the
myths, Tau would eventually fall in love with a human woman named Kerana, and tries
to kidnap her after trying to win her affection for seven days, but is foiled by his
counterpart and exiled. He later tries again and is successful, raping and impregnating
her while in captivity. The goddess Arasy cursed his offspring in punishment for his
vile acts against the innocent Kerana, who later gives birth to seven monsters.
These seven monsters would grow to become evil gods: Teju Jagua, god of caverns;
Mbói Tu'i, god of waterways; Moñái, god of the open fields; Kurupi, god of sexuality;
Ao Ao, god of mountains; Luison, god of death; and Jasy Jatere, god of the siesta and
leader of the seven vile gods. They would cover the earth in darkness and corrupt the
hearts of men, prompting the gods to destroy everything and start all over again.
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---10: Corpo Seco ("Dry Corpse")----------------------------------------------------
Also known as "Unhudo" ("Long-nailed one") he's the remnants of a farmer who was so
evil in life that he couldn't enter heaven and was refused entry in hell, and was
condemned instead to wander the earth as a rotting corpse. It lives by sticking
itself on the bark of trees alongside roads, attacking travelers when they travel alone.
It grabs the victim with its long nails and then start drinking its blood. If no one comes
to your rescue, you're as good as dead.
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---11: Capelobo----------------------------------------------------------------------
According to some legends, instead of dying, some natives turn into a ghastly
creature known as a Capelobo, half-man and half-anteater, with a muscular body
and long sharp claws. It wanders the forest at night looking for newborn animals
to consume, while emitting horrifying screams which echo through the jungle, so
disturbing that it's capable of driving someone mad. As soon it spots a human it
gives chase, and when catches it breaks the person's skull and uses its
long mouth and tongue to suck out the brain. The word capelobo comes from "cape"
which means "crooked bone", and "lobo" which means "wolf".
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---12: Cabeça satânica ("Satanic Head")----------------------------------------------
A demonic apparition who haunts roads in the middle of the night. It appears to lonely
travelers as a normal human at first, but as soon as its victim gets close its body
vanishes in a second, leaving only its demonic head laughing maniacally on the floor.
If it touches you, you'll be taken by a sudden illness and die soon after.
It is considered an incarnation of the devil himself, and thus highly feared by the
people living in rural areas, who make the sign of the cross at the mere mention of
his name. In some versions of the legend he is instead a giant flaming demonic head
who floats in the night sky, laughing, suddendly stopping in front of some house before
disappearing... A omen of death either way.
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---13: Emília------------------------------------------------------------------------
One of the main characters of the Brazilian children book series "Sítio do Pica-Pau
Amarelo". In the books, Emília is a chamomile-stuffed rag doll owned by one of
the protagonists, the young girl Narizinho. In the very first story of the series,
Emília is given a magic pill that gives her life, instantly declaring herself
Marchioness and Countess at the same time, and joins the other characters in their
adventures. In one story she gains the power to alter reality, and starts creating
edible books and making pumpkins grow on trees. Emília is rough, prideful, childish
and extremely talkative, but is the most loved character in the series, and a symbol
of the books and of brazilian child literature in general.
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---14: Dona Carochinha ("Lady Roachie")---------------------------------------------
A figure of Brazilian culture similar to Mother Goose, an imaginary keeper of
fairy tales. During a long time in its old history, Brazil didn't have its own book
publisher, much less books directed to children. The first fairy tale books that
arrived were imported from Portugal, and were called "Tales of Dona Carochinha",
a compile of several famous european stories. Dona Carochinha herself is an
old fairy tale character from Portugal, so old in fact, that her name became
synonymous with the genre, and the same ended up happening in Brazil, solidifying
the character as a kind old lady who tells stories for the many children she finds.
She also appears as a character in the "Sítio do Pica-Pau Amarelo" book series,
as a good, but grumpy anthropomorphic cockroach whose characters she should keep
always end up running away from. Her name is also related nowadays to lies or
fabricated stories. The name "carochinha" means "little cockroach".
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...I swear that writing all these descriptions is way harder than actually drawing them...
Finally over...

I plan to keep this little series in the future, I've still some of the obscure legends to
cover, and I've barely touched religion and mythology as well, so those who liked it
keep an eye for it!

Hope you liked it! See you guys next time!